I didn't plan on ending up in Hong Kong only a month after my last trip, when I reviewed the Spicy Jalapeno Chicken and various sides, but I had to make a trip to Bosnia (from where I'm typing this review), and Hong Kong ended up being a free stopover point for our flight there, so we took advantage and stopped for a few days. The week prior to my arrival in HK, the McDonald's official website was promoting a Spicy Sriracha Burger, which was pretty much the same as the Spicy Jalapeno that I had, but swapping the Jalapeno sauce for a Thai-style Sriracha. For someone that lives in Thailand, I thought that would be a bit disappointing and planned on skipping it entirely, so when we arrived only to find that the burger had been replaced with the Crispy Onion Angus, I was rather pleased and made sure I would try it for lunch.

It's actually been quite a long time since I've had a promo Beef burger, as most of the limited time burgers in Asia are usually Chicken-based, and an even longer time since I've had anything Angus. The burger was being marketed under the Signature Collection, so that meant the ingredients were intended to be a bit more premium over the regular menu. They even displayed that the 100% Angus Beef patty was 130g (4.6oz) so for McDonald's, especially in Asia, that's a pretty hefty patty. Accompanying that patty was a fried egg, which when ordered through the digital kiosk could have been swapped for a "round" egg, which are typically found on McMuffins. Also hidden in there were the eponymous Crispy Onion bits, a slice of non-processed emmental cheese, a veg mix (purple cabbage, lettuce & carrot) and both Gravy & Cream Cheese sauces.

Just reading through the list of ingredients, anyone would know that it was definitely a busy burger with so many different flavours going on. On taking my first bite, the most distinct taste was surprisingly the cream cheese sauce of all things. It was probably because there was a rather large serving of the sauce on the top bun, especially when compared to the Gravy sauce on the bottom. The broken-yolk fried egg was a nice change to the standard McMuffin round egg, so even though I've had egg on burgers before at McDonald's I think this might have been the first non-round egg - I'll have to dig through some older reviews and double check. The egg was actually cooked quite well, and although the yolk was cooked all the way through, it wasn't overcooked at all. For something that isn't a part of the standard menu, I was impressed with the quality.

The biggest disappointment here ended up being the thick beef patty. I felt that it was both underseasoned, and overcooked. It certainly wasn't bad, but could have been much better. I don't know if Hong Kong has ever had such a large patty prior to this Signature Collection range, but they weren't really prepared for one of this size if this is the standard they keep. The size also ended up being a detriment, since its sheer size hid some the other flavours. The large patty meant the Crispy Onions were completely absent - I could see them hidden between the egg and patty, but I couldn't taste them at all. Same goes with the veg, aside from their added crunch, their taste was hidden. The emmental cheese was nice, not as nice as when I had it in Denmark, but the burger would have needed another slice to give it enough to compete with that massive patty.

The Loaded Fries with Cheese and Bacon released together with the Sriracha Chicken Burger 2 weeks prior, but luckily for me they continued their run together with the Crispy Onion. Unlike the do-it-yourselftoppings that are served in Japan, these were served topped with their Cheese and Bacon. The open-face box they were served on meant that only about 2/3 the serving of a typical medium fry was provided, and that was a bit disappointing since you actually had to pay a premium to get these.

The cheese wasn't just a melted cheese slice either, this was proper nacho cheese, like you'd get at a cinema or sports event. I was rather impressed they didn't just use the same cream cheese sauce that was served on the burger, and this was unique to the fries, as nothing else on the menu used nacho cheese (but that doesn't mean the next burger won't). McDonald's Singapore just discontinued their Nacho Cheese Filet o' Fish, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it? Both my fries, and the cheese was lukewarm, which made it a rather unpleasant fry experience, and since my Potato Grids last month were the same, I wonder if it's more due to this branch, rather than just my luck. They were a bit stingy with the cheese too as if I wanted to finish the whole box worth, it would have needed to have more on there to coat each fry. The bacon was as expected, just a standard strip of McDonald's bacon cut up into small pieces. My serving had pieces which were extremely hard and dry, which means they were likely breakfast leftovers. They were difficult to pick up with the flimsy plastic fork, so I ended up leaving the majority on the tray together with the fries.

Rating -

Crispy Onion Angus Burger - 3/5

Loaded Fries with Cheese and Bacon - 1/5

At first I thought I was served the box intended for the Spicy Sriracha, as that was Thailand-themed, but if you look closely it also references the Crispy Onion Angus. This wasn't Thai-style at all, nor was it being marked anywhere else as Thai, so I think they just got lazy with the box, and knew they had to use the same one for both.

McDonald's Croatia Maestro Burger - June 2017

McDonald's Croatia Snickers & Twix McFlurry - June 2017

McDonald's Bosnia Beef Spicy Los Angeles Burger - June 2017

The Wife and I flew into Croatia to get to Bosnia, and since I had this burger literally the day before, I didn't try their "Maestro Burger" as it was very similar. I didn't try their Promo Snickers & Twix McFlurries either, but last year I did have both the Young Potatoes and a Kraš Domaćica McFlurry. I'm not in a part of Bosnia where they have McDonald's, so I won't be able to try their Los Angeles Beef burger either...I will however be in Serbia in 2 weeks, and I do plan on trying anything they might have.

2 comments:

Actually this is indeed marketed as a 'Thai' themed burger (their Chinese name have got the world 'Thai' on it) and that the fried egg is sort of perceived as something 'Thai' locally FYI they did have Quarter pounder on their 'regular' roster until just a few months ago (and even a 'double' quarter pounder only being served during dinner time as a special from time to time) before the 'normal' signature burger (Cheesy champignon Angus burger) became the 'regular' menu item so they should know what they're doing... maybe it's just this branch then!